Everyone has an attachment style, whether anxious, avoidant, disorganized, or secure. For instance, if you find yourself avoiding deep connection, intimacy, or commitment, you could have an avoidant attachment style, a common symptom in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). People with a disorganized attachment style don’t trust others and have difficulty dealing with their emotions.
Understanding your attachment style is crucial in therapy and enhancing life quality, as it helps identify patterns in relationships and emotional responses, guiding more effective personal growth and healthier interactions. At Deer Hollow, our clinicians are highly trained in assisting individuals explore and understand their attachment styles. They’re skilled in developing tailored therapeutic approaches that foster emotional healing and help build more secure and fulfilling relationships.
The Four Attachment Styles
Attachment styles are patterns of how we think, feel, and behave in relationships, influenced by early interactions with our primary caregivers. According to attachment theory, they are formed as young as six months.
The four primary attachment styles are:
- Secure. People with this style are comfortable with intimacy and autonomy. Secure individuals, they trust others, communicate effectively, and form healthy relationships.
- Anxious. Craving closeness but fearing abandonment, anxious individuals often seek validation and reassurance. They also exhibit heightened emotional responses.
- Avoidant. Individuals with an avoidant attachment style value independence over intimacy. They often withdraw from close relationships to avoid vulnerability and maintain self-sufficiency.
- Disorganized. People with this style display inconsistent behaviors due to mistrust and confusion about relationships, often resulting from past trauma.
Understanding Your Attachment Style
Recognizing your attachment style allows therapists to craft a customized treatment program that addresses its specific issues and challenges. By working on these foundational aspects, therapy can lead to profound personal growth and improvement in quality of life while fostering more satisfying and rewarding relationships.
The good news is that just because your attachment style forms early on, it doesn’t mean it’s set in stone. Research shows that an individual’s style can change in response to how close friends and romantic partners interact with them in later years. The guidance of a licensed therapist can also help someone shift their attachment style and relearn new forms of trust.
If you’re interested in determining your attachment style and how you can use that knowledge to break free of unhealthy patterns and behaviors, contact Deer Hollow today.